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The assassination of President Lincoln took place just five days after the surrender of the commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee to General (and future President) Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated. The assassination was planned and carried out by John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor of his day, as part of a larger conspiracy that was intended to rally the remaining Confederate troops to continue fighting. Booth plotted with Lewis Powell and George Atzerodt to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson as well.
Lincoln was shot while watching the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. General and Mrs. Grant were invited to see the play with the Lincolns, but declined because Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Grant were not on good terms with one other. Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara Harris (daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris) accompanied the Lincolns to the play. The Lincoln party arrived late and settled into the Presidential Box. Mrs. Lincoln whispered to her husband, who was holding her hand, "What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?" The president replied, "She won't think anything about it".Those were the last words ever spoken by Abraham Lincoln.
The box was supposed to be guarded by a policeman named John Frederick Parker. During the intermission, Parker went to a nearby tavern with Lincoln's footman and coachman. Booth planned to wait for the moment in the play "Our American Cousin" when actor Harry Hawk (playing the lead role of the "cousin", Asa Trenchard), would be onstage alone, where there would be laughter to muffle the sound of a gunshot. Hawk's line that Booth planned his attack for was when Asa said to the recently departed Mrs Mountchessington, "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal; you sockdologizing old man-trap!"At 10:15 p.m., Booth raced forward and shot the President in the back of the head. Lincoln slumped over in his rocking chair, mortally wounded. Mary reached out and caught him, then screamed.
Major Rathbone jumped from his seat and tried to prevent Booth from escaping, but Booth stabbed the major in the arm with a knife. Rathbone quickly recovered and tried to grab Booth as he was preparing to jump from the sill of the box. Booth again stabbed at Rathbone and vaulted over the rail down to the stage. His riding spur caught on the Treasury flag decorating the box, and he landed awkwardly on his left foot, fracturing his left fibula just above the ankle. There is some dispute about what Booth said, but many historians believe that he raised himself up and, holding his knife over his head, yelled "Sic semper tyrannis!" This is the Virginia state motto. It is Latin for "thus always to tyrants". Other accounts claim that he also uttered "The South is avenged!"
Dr. Charles Leale, a young Army surgeon was at the play. He made his way through the crowd to the Presidential box. Lincoln had no pulse and Leale believed him to be dead. Leale lowered the President to the floor. A second doctor in the audience, Dr. Charles Sabin Taft, joined Leale and the two men cut away Lincoln's blood-stained collar and opened his shirt, and Leale discovered the bullet hole in the back of the head by the left ear. Leale removed a clot of blood in the wound and Lincoln's breathing improved. Still, Leale knew it made no difference. "His wound is mortal. It is impossible for him to recover".They chose to carry Lincoln across the street into a boarding house. The physicians were joined by Surgeon General of the United States Army Dr. Joseph K. Barnes, Lincoln's personal physician and other doctors. Later Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton came and took charge of the scene. Mary Lincoln was so unhinged by the experience of the assassination that Stanton ordered her out of the room by shouting, "Take that woman out of here and do not let her in here again!" While Mary Lincoln sobbed in the front parlor, Stanton set up shop in the rear parlor, effectively running the United States government for several hours, sending and receiving telegrams, taking reports from witnesses, and issuing orders for the pursuit of Booth.
At 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865, Lincoln died. He was 56 years old. Mary Lincoln was not present at the time of his death. The crowd around the bed knelt for a prayer, and when they were finished, Stanton said, "Now he belongs to the ages".[35] There is some disagreement among historians as to Stanton's words after Lincoln died. All agree that he began "Now he belongs to the..." with some stating he said "ages" while others believe he said "angels".